Nathan Adrian of the US edged James Magnussen by a fingertip to win the coveted Olympic 100m freestyle swimming gold on Wednesday, just one of the thrillers on a night that saw two world records fall.
Adrian clocked 47.52 seconds, beating the Australian sprint powerhouse by 0.01 seconds and becoming the first American since Matt Biondi in 1988 to win Olympic swimming’s blue riband event.
“I have big hands, I guess,” Adrian quipped of the margin of victory over Magnussen, who was fifth at the turn — two spots behind Adrian — but poured it on in the final 50m to make a race of it.
Photo: Reuters
“The second 50 was nerve-wracking,” Adrian admitted of the chase to overtake pace-setting world record-holder Cesar Cielo of Brazil.
“The 100m has changed so much in the last 10 years, people are going out so fast now,” Adrian said. “I am known to go out fast and then suffer, but I managed to finish strong this time. I first looked up and saw I had won, then it sank in and hit me like a ton of bricks, so many emotions, it was incredible.”
Magnussen took silver in 47.53 seconds and Canada’s Brent Hayden — second behind Magnussen at last year’s world championships — earned bronze in 47.80.
It was another crushing defeat for the Aussie, the overwhelming favorite who had already flopped in Australia’s fourth-place 4x100m freestyle relay swim.
“I fought until the last stroke, but it wasn’t quite close enough tonight,” Magnussen said.
Hungarian Daniel Gyurta got the evening off to a rollicking start with a world record and victory in the men’s 200m breaststroke.
Rebecca Soni added another world record in the semi-finals of the women’s 200m breaststroke, advancing in emphatic style in her defense of the title she won in Beijing.
“Now I am overshadowed by Reb setting a world record,” Adrian jokingly complained.
First, though, it was Gyurta’s turn. The two-time world and European champion had seized the lead from defending Olympic gold medalist Kosuke Kitajima by the final turn and he stormed home with Britain’s Michael Jamieson pushing him all the way.
The duel sent the crowd into a frenzy, but it was Gyurta’s gold in 2 minutes, 7.28 seconds.
Jamieson took silver in 2:07.43 and Japan’s Ryo Tateishi sneaked past the fading Kitajima to claim bronze in 2:08.29 — a full second adrift.
“It was a really hard race,” Gyurta said. “In the last 20m I saw Jamieson, he was so fast in the last part. It was hard for me, but I managed to do it.”
Japan’s Kitajima, who came into the Games with the fastest 200m time in the world this year, saw his Olympic breaststroke reign ended in a fourth-placed finish. He had already finished fifth in the 100m breaststroke won in a world record by South African Cameron van der Burgh.
US superstar Michael Phelps, meanwhile, finished second in a head-to-head semi-final clash with teammate Ryan Lochte in the 200m individual medley.
Phelps and Lochte were pumped up after watching Adrian’s victory.
“It was awesome,” Phelps said. “We were cheering, cheering and cheering, and then as soon as he won, Ryan and I went nuts.”
Lochte had a busy night, the 200m medley semis coming after he he won his 200m backstroke semi-final to secure his spot in the final with the second-quickest time of the night.
Phelps returned to the pool a day after a 200m butterfly silver and relay gold gave him a record 19 career Olympic medals.
He was clearly enjoying himself and the success of his teammates on a night that ended with his training partner Allison Schmitt anchoring the US to a women’s 4x200m freestyle relay victory in an Olympic record of 7:42.92.
Australia finished second in 7:44.41 and France claimed the bronze medal in 7:47.49.
“We are picking up steam and hopefully we can finish well,” Phelps said of a US team that now has eight swimming golds ahead of China’s four and France’s three.
Jiao Liuyang kept the gold flowing for rising pool power China with a victory in the women’s 200m butterfly, four years after settling for silver in Beijing behind teammate Liu Zige.
Now the world champion, Jiao used a strong second 100m, running down Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia to win in an Olympic record of 2:04.06.
Belmonte Garcia took silver in 2:05.25, with Japan’s Natsumi Hoshi third in 2:05.48.
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
DOMINATION: McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took the first two spots as Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen followed them Australian Oscar Piastri yesterday roared back from season-opening disappointment in his home race by winning the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two with championship-leading teammate Lando Norris. George Russell finished third for Mercedes, ahead of Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Saturday’s sprint winner Lewis Hamilton fifth and sixth respectively. Piastri’s win denied Norris a third victory in a row, including last year’s Abu Dhabi season-ender, but left champions McLaren unbeaten in two races so far this year. “Mega job guys. The car was very, very lovely,” Piastri said
TO FINAL FOUR: France had 22 chances and scored two goals, while Croatia could not manage a single shot on target in 120 minutes. Les Bleus won 5-4 on penalties France on Sunday overturned a two-goal deficit to qualify for the UEFA Nations League Final Four by eliminating Croatia 5-4 on penalties after a 2-0 victory in their quarter-final second leg at the Stade de France. Dayot Upamecano scored the winning spot kick in a nail-biting shootout in which France keeper Mike Maignan made two saves, sending Les Bleus into the semi-finals against Spain. Michael Olise opened the scoring and Ousmane Dembele doubled their lead 10 minutes from time to send the tie into extra time after their 2-0 loss in Split, Croatia, on Thursday. France had a total of
Armand Duplantis will be among the reigning Olympic champions adding star power to the world indoor championships this weekend when the Chinese city of Nanjing hosts the first major global athletics meet since the Paris Games last year. The three-day event was originally slated for 2020 and faced multiple postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Nanjing’s Sports Training Center would finally welcome more than 570 athletes for the start of the showpiece today. One of the main attractions would be pole vaulter “Mondo” Duplantis, who soared 6.27m to break the world record for a staggering 11th time in Clermont-Ferrand last
RSS